Clio vs Tabs3

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Our analysts compared Clio vs Tabs3 based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Legal Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

Clio is an industry-leading end-to-end solution to streamline all aspects of a law firm — case management, daily workflows, billing, client relationship and in-depth reporting. Firms can opt for its practice management and billing-focused Clio Manage, client-facing Clio Grow or combine the best of both worlds with Clio Suite. Users can access a centralized calendar to schedule workflows, deadlines and client appointments with reminders, checklists and follow-ups. They can also access and manage cases, matters, documents and clients in real-time and generate bills with personalized payment plans, track billable hours and account receivables to maximize firm revenues.

It provides a secure database for easy access to client records, documents and matters. It simplifies client intake, relationship and retention processes with lead generation, secure communication, client tracking and online payment modules. It also provides robust customizable dashboards and reporting to enable data-driven insights on different facets of the firm. Scalable for practices of all sizes, firms can leverage more than 200 integrations and its immersive referral network to enrich its functionality. Its dedicated cybersecurity and cloud deployment enable users and teams to connect securely and remotely from the devices of their choice.
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Tabs3 is an integrated suite of solutions designed for law firms to streamline their entire matter lifecycle. Practices can opt and pay for only the modules they need, which include billing, practice management, general ledger, accounts payable and trust accounting. It requires minimal implementation and can be deployed either in the cloud or on-premises. It has an array of ways to review important metrics, track billable hours, send bills and get paid faster.

In addition to modifying account structures with ease, users can stay on top of their cash flows by tracking and resolving invoices, bank statements, deposits and payments. It improves firm-wide monitoring with dashboards to visualize historical data and flexible reporting on productivity, profitability, billing and other aspects. Users can access it on the go from any device and use numerous integrations to enrich it.
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$40/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$40 Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
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Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • User-Friendly: Maximize ROI by reducing time spent on reskilling employees thanks to extensive training material and an intuitive UI. 
  • Automatically Perform Core Processes: Save time with purpose-built automation such as email scheduling, automated workflows, task assignments, email templates and more. 
  • Unlimited Cloud Storage: Store an unlimited number of case-related documents, audio and video files. 
  • Prompt Support: The technical support team provides quick responses. 
  • Comprehensive Mobile App: Offers on-the-go time tracking, business accounting and database access. 
  • Precise Dashboard Tracking: Track invoices, receivables, deadlines, tasks, staff performance and more in real time. 
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  • Expedited Billing: Boost cash flow with multiple payment modes, mobile payment options, and customizable statements and payment plans.  
  • Streamlined Data Management: Quickly find legal matters, records and case information with electronic data organization and easy-to-use search tools. 
  • Sync With Court Rules: Seamlessly sync the legal calendar to Federal and State-based jurisdictional rules with affiliations to ALA and ABA. 
  • All-in-One Connectivity: Stay connected regardless of the mode of deployment using a mobile app. 
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  • Client Management: Increase operational efficiency by automating standard firm procedures throughout the client lifecycle. Improve the customer experience by encouraging client collaborations in case operations. 
    • Client Intake Management: Automate logging and synchronization of client intake data, case management tasks and calendar information under one scheduling environment. Track potential client information and open new matters seamlessly with Quick Intake. 
    • Client Tracking: Never miss a single task or appointment with checklists, automated reminders and cross-platform sharing of client information and documentation. Follow up on potential clients and collect matter details with 24/7 secure access to cases, scheduling, contacts through Online Intake Forms and the Matter Pipeline. 
    • Client Services: Increase client engagement with automated follow-up emails and reminders. Offer flexible payment options including online credit cards. 
  • Security: Secure your data from potential external and internal vulnerabilities with a dedicated cybersecurity portal. Enforce administrative, physical and technical controls like 2FA, criminal background checks, security training and more to protect against future liabilities. 
    • Compliance: Ensure GDPR compliance both as a data controller and processor. Get payments processed 39% faster with credit cards while operating in compliance with PCI guidelines. 
    • Data Encryption: Store and transmit data securely with HTTPS and TLS-based in-transit and at-rest encryption. The secure web interface is verified by DigiCert. 
    • Control Implementation: Control access to sensitive information with role-based permissions, login safeguards and session/activity tracking via IP information. Increase safety standards with strong passwords, regular password resets and two-factor authentication via the mobile app. 
  • Firm Insights: Thoroughly understand the firm’s strengths and weaknesses with in-depth reporting on the most valuable referral sources, clients, and matter types. Compare actual matter totals to estimated ones and track billed, unbilled and collected amounts. 
  • Case Management: Track and manage case-related documents, bills, time and client contact information from anywhere. Integrate pre-existing case information from over 200 applications including Dropbox, Outlook and Google Workspace. 
  • Document Management: Remotely store and access an unlimited number of legal documents, images, audio and video files. Backup documents automatically, filter and sort using customized categories, search using keywords and send documents for signature through the e-Signature portal. 
  • Billing Management: Create, approve and send bills electronically and process interest for late payments with the Clio Connect portal. Offer automated, flexible and faster payment plans with integrated credit card processing via the Clio Payments extension. 
  • Contact Management: Track the firm’s clients and contacts with quick overviews of their connected matters, documents, transactions and bills. Trace their interactions with the firm, identify conflict of interests, if any, and log case-specific information in custom data fields. 
  • Accounting: Create trust and operating accounts and produce invoices in compliance with legal industry regulations. Use the client ledger portal to monitor all accounts and transactions associated with a client and perform 3-way reconciliations either manually or with the help of third-party extensions. 
  • Calendar Management: Stay on top of deadlines and important dates by synchronizing calendars with cases. Create custom entries to log more billable hours, share important events and dates with clients and keep track of firm-wide events, meetings and appointments. 
  • Task Management: Keep track of pending tasks on legal cases, assign tasks to other members and set as many customized task categories as required using the Advanced Tasks portal. Get notifications about overdue tasks, organized by due date, in the main dashboard. 
  • Time and Expense Tracking: Keep a record of time spent working by seamlessly adding entries from calendar events, tasks, communication logs, notes, documents, Outlook and Gmail. Track time and expenses in real time even when on the go using the mobile application. 
  • Performance Management: Get detailed reports on the utilization of the firm’s time with insights on how to streamline workflows and reallocate resources for better productivity. Identify unbilled hours and write-offs to prevent further incidents. 
  • Legal Client App: Clients can use the mobile app to receive push notifications, status updates and case details, contact their lawyer and scan and upload documents. Case lawyers provide sign up links via email for secure login with Face ID or Touch ID verification. 
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  • Financial Management: Manage firm financials with the end-to-end accounting portal. Interact directly with the billing module to issue checks, print financial statements, operate trust accounts and perform year-end reconciliations. 
    • General Ledger: Balance operating and trust accounts with the general ledger tool. 
    • Accounts Payable: Track all incoming and outgoing transactions for a holistic view of firm financials. Monitor aging receivables, cash requirements, vendor payments, recurring payments and voided checks. 
    • Trust Accounting: Automatically log all transactions made from trust accounts. Reconcile deposits and withdrawals and print checks from the client’s trust fund. 
    • Integrations: Supports integrations with Tabs3 Billing Software, Tabs3 Accounts Payable Software and Tabs3 General Ledger Software. 
    • 1099 Forms: Combine payment disbursements to vendors and trust account payees with the 1099 form. Always maintain compliance with IRS regulations. 
  • Matter Management: View a quick feed of matter-specific information like contacts, communication history, case notes, documentation and invoices directly into the dashboard. Verify the billing summary of matter information and issue invoices against unpaid bills. 
  • Calendar Management: Switch between firm-wide and personal calendar views to get a 360-degree picture of firm obligations. Schedule individual and/or collective appointments and color-code them based on associated staff and activities. 
    • Deadline Checks: Automatically check new calendar entries against existing events for scheduling conflicts. Set up custom federal, state, county and jurisdiction-based rules for detecting deadlines. 
    • Notifications: Notify individual or collective staff members about important events and hearings. 
    • Recurring Meetings: Automate calendar entries for recurring events that take place at both regular and irregular time intervals. 
    • Planning Templates: Prepare sequential events with calendar planning templates. Use event-based or time-based triggers for court rules and collection follow-ups. 
  • Conflict Checks: Check all potential clients for conflicts of interest. Investigate legal documents, emails, matters and attachments for partial and/or phonetic matches to the conflict checking tool. 
  • Email Management: Integrate with Microsoft Outlook to automatically track time spent on writing and reviewing client emails. Add emails directly to client files, perform conflict checks and sort by associated matter. 
  • Time and Expense Tracking: Track every minute of time spent on client activities and correspondence with multiple built-in timers. Interact directly with the billing portal to issue invoices directly from time entries. Set custom billing and increment rates for individual clients. 
  • Document Management: Organize legal documents by connecting them to associated matters and clients. Import scanned documents using the PaperPort extension. Track various changes made to a document across previous versions. 
    • Smart Documents: Autofill common data fields with information already in the firm database. Automatically issue invoices for any document-related activity. 
  • Workflow Automation: Engineer custom workflow patterns with up to 10 tasks including emails, communication, documentation, appointments and more. Assign tasks to staff members with trigger-based alerts. 
  • Controlled Access: Restrict access to sensitive documents with permission-based accounts and customizable viewership controls. Permit edits for specific data fields. 
  • Backup and Recovery: Secure firm information with regular backups. Export firm data at any time in case of power outages or network failures. 
  • eNote: Send secure messages in real time with the built-in messaging portal. Send appointment links and reminders along with text messages. 
  • Billing: Use the billing portal to directly transform time entries into billable hours. Prepare tailored bills with quick access to client contacts, payment history, write-offs, WIP, account balance and more. 
    • Billing Flexibility: Process payments faster with flexible billing methods. Issue contingency, retainer, hourly, flat fee or threshold-based bills and design custom rate charts for specific clients. 
    • Online Payments: Accept credit card transactions for expedited payments. Use the Tabs3Pay tool to email online payment links along with client invoices. Supports integration for LawPay and ProPay. 
    • Reports: Generate built-in reports for greater insights into revenue, important clients, receivables, compensation, productivity, profitable practice areas and more. 
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Product Ranking

#2

among all
Legal Software

#49

among all
Legal Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

91
79
97
96
100
69
82
83
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Client and Contact Management
Integrations and Extensibility
Mobile Capabilities
Task Management
Matter/Case Management
Time and Expense Management
Billing and Payments

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Clio
Tabs3
+ Add Product + Add Product
Billing And Payments Calendaring And Legal Docketing Client And Contact Management Dashboard And Reporting Document Management Matter/Case Management Mobile Capabilities Task Management Time And Expense Management 97 100 82 62 98 100 100 79 96 69 83 69 64 78 67 100 0 25 50 75 100
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58%
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42%
80%
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43%
64%
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36%
100%
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67%
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33%
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78%
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22%
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67%
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33%
80%
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

100%
0%
0%
71%
0%
29%
92%
0%
8%
75%
0%
25%

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 1435 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 355 reviews
93%
of users recommend this product

Clio has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 93% when considering 1435 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

93%
of users recommend this product

Tabs3 has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 93% when considering 355 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.6 (18)
n/a
4.5 (243)
3.8 (27)
4.7 (1147)
4.7 (160)
n/a
4.7 (166)
4.7 (27)
3.9 (2)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Clio and concluded it deserves the award for the Best Overall Legal Software available today and earns best-in-class honors for Client and Contact Management, Mobile Capabilities, Task Management and Integrations and Extensibility. Clio stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

Analysts' Pick Award
User Favorite Award
Client and Contact Management Award
Mobile Capabilities Award
Task Management Award
Integrations and Extensibility Award

Tabs3 stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Ease of Use: All the users who reviewed this aspect found the UI intuitive and easy to pick up.
Functionality: According to 73% of users reviewing capabilities, basic functions such as time tracking, accounting and document management perform satisfactorily.
Service and Support: 83% of users who mentioned this element said they’re satisfied with the customer support and response rates.
Task Management: Regarding this feature, 71% of users said the softwaremade task management easier.
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Intuitive Interface: Users highlight the user-friendliness of Tabs3, making it easy to navigate and manage legal tasks.
Comprehensive Features: Tabs3 is praised for its wide array of features, covering various aspects of legal practice management, from time tracking and billing to document management.
Robust Reporting: Users appreciate the detailed reporting capabilities of Tabs3, allowing for insightful analysis of financial and operational data.
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Integrations: Integration options are limited and plagued with bugs, according to 60% of users mentioning this aspect.
Speed and Performance: According to 100% of users who reviewed this element, loading speed is slow, negatively affecting performance.
Reporting: 56% of users who reviewed this feature found that reports lack customizability.
Training: 80% of users found the training resources to be insufficient.
Cost: According to 80% of users who reviewed this aspect, the software cost is higher than its competitors.
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Limited Customization: Users have expressed frustration over the inflexibility of certain features, particularly when it comes to document assembly. For instance, one user found it cumbersome that they couldn't easily modify the formatting of numbered clauses within a legal document.
Learning Curve: Legal professionals transitioning from older software versions have reported a steep learning curve with Tabs3. The new interface and features require time and effort to master, impacting productivity during the transition phase.
Integration Challenges: Some users have encountered difficulties integrating Tabs3 with other essential software used in their legal practice. This lack of seamless integration can disrupt workflows and lead to inefficiencies.
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Clio offers practice management capabilities, along with data and task management modules. According to reviews, its primary functions like time tracking, billing and matter management meet modern legal requirements. It’s scalable, secure and easy to use, with a responsive support team to back it up. However, reviewers noted that integrations are buggy and loading time is slow. While the features make it worthwhile, many users feel that the cost could be lower. Overall, Clio is an excellent package if you don’t mind paying a bit more and dealing with extended load times.

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Users rave about Tabs3's robust document management and search capabilities, highlighting its ability to centralize all case-related information, making it easy to find any document quickly. They also appreciate the comprehensive financial tools, including billing, trust accounting, and reporting features, which streamline financial operations and ensure compliance. However, some users find the interface dated and not as intuitive as newer cloud-based solutions like Clio or MyCase. They also point out that the on-premise deployment option, while offering more control, can be more demanding to maintain than cloud-based alternatives. Despite these drawbacks, users consistently praise Tabs3's deep feature set and its long-standing reputation for reliability, making it a solid choice for firms prioritizing stability and comprehensive functionality over a modern user interface. It's particularly well-suited for larger, established firms with complex needs and the IT infrastructure to support an on-premise solution.

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